James 4:13-15: Going and Sending

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” - James 4:13-15

Today, as I was flying to Boston for business and staring out the window, I was praying that God would invite me into whatever he was doing in the place he was sending me. Then it occurred to me that wherever I am going today for work was actually a place he was sending me. Wherever I go, there the kingdom of God is, because of his sovereign claim on my life. So I'd better be sure I was sent.

I think that's why James speaks so strongly to business people. If we think that we are going because of our business, "you boast in your arrogant schemes." (vs. 16).

There is nothing wrong with taking risks, being entrepreneurial, and building a business as long as we realized that God is already on the other side of what we are planning. He has been there already. He has seen the aftermath of your venture. He has seen the result of our plan. And maybe it isn't his plan, and maybe it isn't his best.

So I take a different approach: I am being sent into a situation where God is already at work and he is inviting me to join him, even for the span of a few days. I pray that my eyes will be open to what is happening. I pray that my heart will be humble to trade my agenda for his. I pray that his kingdom will be furthered, not mine. I'm here as a part of my job, but I'd prefer he supercede. As tobyMac says, "Steal my show."

It is curious to me that before Jesus left, his followers were called disciples-followers. But after he left, his disciples were called apostles-sent ones. "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)

I could say I made my plane reservations (I did) for my business reasons (I did). But God has his own purposes for letting me go. God does not just rubber-stamp my itinerary as his plan. Rather, he is utilizing my life, in all its journeys, to make his point. If he didn't want me to go, he could have told me (by his Spirit) or diverted me, or stopped me. James notes that I am just a mist. My plans don't stand a chance compared to the power of God, if he wants something else.

We can too easily set up our goal as if it is the reason for going. But today, as I landed in Logan International Airport, I am going because God was sending me into what he was already doing.